Ghost of Tsushima Is Not A Hack ‘n’ Slash Game, Combat Is Really “Out of The Ordinary”

The one biggest issue I had with Ghost of Tsushima‘s showing at E3 this year was the combat. I loved how the game looked, and the atmosphere that it seemed to be going for, but the combat looked far too start-stop and jerky, reminding me of old Assassin’s Creed games- which, I need to emphasize, isn’t necessarily a good thing per se.

Of course, that’s just my opinion, and others liked what they saw- it certainly looks great, if nothing else. Speaking to GamingBolt, Chris Zimmerman, the Co-Founder and Co-Studio Head for Sucker Punch, mentioned that the combat was designed to be like a brawler, one that would require a lot of different kinds of skills from the players, because of how it is structured.

“If it were hack ‘n slash, [the live-demo player] wouldn’t be nervously practicing before every demo,” Zimmerman said. “It’s a brawler. It’s skill [based] in a bunch of different directions. The heart of the game is…[in the demo] you’ve seen three guys, getting into a fight with them, and knowing that you’re in danger, knowing that you have to be on top of your game fighting three guys. It’s really out of the ordinary if you think about it. You have lots of games where fighting one guy is hard, and then you have lots of games where fighting 20 guys is hard. But three ends up being an interesting number, it gives the game sort of a fresh feel.”

Depending on how it is executed (will the other two guys be passive until you lock on to them, or can you get swarmed by them? What is their level of ability?), there actually could end up being a certain kind of rhythm to the game’s combat, even in spite of my perceived misgivings right now. I guess we will have to wait and see, and find out when Ghost of Tsushima launches exclusively on the PS4 at some point in the future.